Monday, February 29, 2016

A Baby Girl Is Born

The day started just like any other. It was my first day officially off the radar. I sat down with a big pile of books the boys had torn and tackled my first project - paste covers, tape torn pages. The boys and I sat in the front porch, getting really warm really quick. It was a sunny bright beautiful Caribbean day. So, we took it easy. We fixed one book; we read one book. And the morning passed. After lunch, I felt really tired. Daniel fell asleep, and I just let David watch as many back to back episodes of Daniel Tiger as he wanted, and I napped.

Later in the afternoon, as I was starting to work on dinner, I felt contractions. They were not painful, but they were pretty consistent and sort of had a pattern. I grew a little anxious. I wanted to know for sure if this was it. I went ahead and called my doula, Yda, who told me to call my doctor, who told me "you're an experienced mom, so you can know if this is it or not. I'm in the delivery room if you just want to come  in." Thanks doc, I really had no clue. 

I did not know what to do. I wanted it to be it. I wanted to know for certain. Was this all real? Was it all in my head? What if I just wanted to have my baby so bad I was making this all up? What if it was real and then I wouldn't make it to the hospital in the end? Yda and I sat in the living room, which she prepped to be only candlelit, and timed contractions - 6 minutes apart. And then, suddenly, I felt exhausted. I wanted to go to bed right then and there, which seemed so weird to me given that it was only 9 pm, and I don't ever get sleepy before midnight. So, I went to lay down, thinking "well... I'm gonna lay down, and it's all gonna go away, and then Yda is gonna have to go home." I later found out that while I was laying down, she told my brother "we need to get ready for a homebirth. This might go really quick."

Suddenly, as I was resting, contractions became painful. I stayed in bed for another 20 minutes or so, and they picked up, fast. Suddenly we were seeing them come in at 3-4 minute intervals, and it became very obvious we all needed to get in the car ASAP.  So, we called the doctor, and started our one hour drive to the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital at 11:45 pm, contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. They were painful, but short and manageable. And then, they couldn't pick up a stable heart rate for the baby. So, as things grew in pain, they also grew in worry, and I was still trying to set my mind ready for a long night of laboring, still somewhat not convinced I was going to have a baby that evening. The heart rate was a little erratic, but the doctor said that since I was already in active labor, if it progressed quickly, we could proceed. If it looked like it would take too long, a c-section was gonna be necessary. But things progressed. A little over an hour later, this huge painful wave hit me. And into the delivery room I went.

Suddenly, I found myself screaming "I can't do this!" And Roy, the doctor, and Yda screaming back "There comes the head!" So, twenty minutes after going into the delivery room, I had a baby! Not even two hours after making it to the hospital. I still couldn't believe it! The first thing I asked was "IS IT A GIRL?" Because, you know... We've been getting ready for one, but there was just one ultrasound that confirmed that, so... just saying. And so arrived Elena Grace, with 7lbs. 10 oz, at 1:37 am, on February 26.


It was all very quick, and we were in our room by 2:30 am. A nurse came in at 5:30 to check on me. I wanted a bacon cheeseburger. She left some tylenol. The doctor stopped by at around 10:30 am and said I was ready for release after the pediatrician came and checked on Elena. We were on our way home by 2pm, after clearing all paperwork. Some friends had taken the boys out for ice cream, so we got home and the husband had lunch with the brother. About twenty minutes later, we got to introduce baby sister to two very excited and quickly taken older brothers. Both David and Daniel have spent the last two days kissing her every time they get a chance, and the biggest challenge has been to have them let her sleep. Both baby and mama are doing well, and we are starting to enjoy and get a glimpse of what life might be with our new little girl.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Coming to America, Part II

The time in the US came and went like a whirlwind. We always look forward to the time in which we can see friends and family, and once we are there, it seems that we somehow get busier than ever and not get to see all the folks we would've loved to spend time with. Here are a couple of things we did get to do.

See and enjoy family. This is a true treat for us. We had not been able to see a lot of our family for a long time. In past years, we had been able to go to the beach with most of Roy's family in the summers, but as both our family has grown, and the rest of his family grows and gets busier (three college kids!), plus the fact that I couldn't travel this past summer because my visa had expired, had just made it impossible to see everyone. Well, we got to have Christmas over and over again, seeing all of our US immediate family. The boys had a blast hanging out with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. We got to spend a couple of days with Roy's older sister and her family who had come into town to spend Christmas. After that, we got to go to Charleston and spend a few days there, mainly visiting Roy's brother and his family. Also, we got to see my aunt and my cousin and her family, who also live there. Time with grandma and grandpa every day was a fun adventure for the boys. We got to see grandpa in action at the Y-Sail project he leads.
We all enjoyed seeing the boats grandpa builds with kids

See and enjoy friends. We got to see a lot of friends. It always feels as if we didn't have time to see everybody we wanted to see, and we are always grateful for the chances we get to catch up with friends who make room in their busy schedules for seeing us. We had the chance to have an evening dessert get-together, and we truly enjoyed the time to meet people who make it possible for us to do our ministries. Our plans to travel and visit friends in Raleigh were hindered by the snow storm that hit the East coast toward the end of our trip. It is always a challenge to keep in touch and strengthen friendships when being far away, and we wish we could be closer more often, but we are also excited to be part of what the Lord is doing in other countries that are not 'home'.

Looking forward to the next time we get to come back! We'll see what it's like to travel with 3 under 4 next time...




Monday, February 22, 2016

Coming to America, Part I

We went to the States in late December, and we wanted to share a few highlights of our trip there.

5:00 am at the airport, getting ready to go to the US!
Traveling with small children is hard. Should be no surprise here, but as a parent who has traveled quite a bit, I fell into the illusion that we had somewhat gotten this figured out. No. Wake up and smell the puke from the kid who gets sick as you land during the first flight. Got a potty-trained kid? Good for you. Caveat: once you deplane, there are no bathrooms until you go through customs. That's an average of one to two hours, after a four hour flight during which your kid was too busy watching all the Sesame Street videos you could get on your phone to go potty. At least you can walk it off, right? Maybe next time we will remember to bring the stroller, because walking around with a three-year old, a two-year old, and a 30-week pregnant mama was not our idea of fun family bonding time. At least we made it back! We flew out one day after a major snow storm had shut down airports during the weekend.

Four days before going to the States...

Aside from the challenges of traveling, being about a month outside of our normal surroundings was hard for the kids. We are really lucky to be able to base out of grandma and grandpa's house. They are terrific with the kiddos (and us, too). The tricky thing was that these Caribbean boys are used to spending most of their day barefoot and outside. That becomes a little hard when you're in the middle of winter. So, cabin fever was a common occurrence, and I think the McDonald's with the indoor playground considered giving us a frequent customer card.

Four days before coming back...
Tough as it was being inside longer than usual, the boys got to see snow for the first time! This was David's wish for weeks. At some point, before Christmas, we had watched a movie where there was snow. So, he kept asking for it, and I said maybe when we go to the States there will be some... And sure enough, there was plenty of it to get a first taste of winter fun. 

Mama and Papa got to travel alone! For the first time ever, the husband and I got to travel together at the same time without the kiddos. I had traveled, he had, but not the two of us at the same time - not even for an overnight. So, we did what smart really conscientious parents would do: left cold turkey for an entire week. Kids stayed with grandparents, and we got to attend the Young Life Celebration, which is the conference YL organizes every four years for their US staff, and this year we got to celebrate 75 years of the ministry. It was truly a treat. We got to hear great speakers who challenged us in our walk with Christ. Roy got to meet with folks about the next steps to continue development at Pico. We got to see and spend time with old good friends. And finally, even in the midst of workshops and sessions, the husband and I got to spend some sort of a baby moon before #3 arrives.

There were plenty more amazing things we got to do, hoping to write more about that later!